


Muddled Thoughts

by kat8cha



Category: Love Nikki Dress Up Queen
Genre: F/F, HINTS of events from end of Ch. 11 + 12, Spoilers, but nothing big so you don't have to worry, for Midnight Escape event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 16:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14752698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kat8cha/pseuds/kat8cha
Summary: Kimi could see that underneath Orlando's steely resolve he was worried for them. She expects a tongue lashing, what she gets is a tired Apple Federation Officer worried for her safety. Also, Kimi and Nikki are so in love.





	Muddled Thoughts

Kimi could see the diatribe simmering under Orlando’s calm veneer. He had been noticeably on edge during their trip to Welton and… well, Kimi supposed he had good reason to be. Even without Curt pledging to steal someone’s heart... there had been a lot going on lately. A lot for Orlando to deal with. Halfway through dinner, as Bobo and Momo competed to see who could eat the most grilled fish and Nikki smiled at them, Kimi had snuck a glance at Orlando.

The Apple Federation officer had no doubt assumed that all of her attention would be consumed by Nikki, as it so often was, and he had let his guard down. He had looked tired. 

When she turned to really look at him, though, his mask was back up and he smiled at her.

The tongue-lashing waited until they were back at the hotel, until Nikki, Bobo, and Momo had been tucked away in their rooms.

Kimi steeled herself before she turned to face Orlando.

“Lady Kimi.” Orlando started, his voice tightly controlled. Kimi stiffened her shoulders and did her best not to glare. Wilting was bad, glaring was worse. She knew she had been in the wrong. “….why?”

He sounded so despairing.

Kimi did wilt, the broken tone of voice getting to her, she looked down at her shoes.

The next pair of shoes would have bows, she decided, these were too plain.

“It was exciting.” She said eventually. “We knew that we should leave it to the police but…”

She shrugged. She did not usually shrug. Shrugging, she felt, ruined the lines of her dresses. “Bobo wanted to meet a ‘cute guy’.” Oh, she hadn’t meant to sound so scathing about it. Still, Bobo’s childish infatuations did irritate her. How could Bobo fall head over heels for a boy she hadn’t met when Nikki was right there? “Nikki and I didn’t think there’d be any harm.”

She hadn’t thought there would be any harm either. The police would surely have already questioned the old lady. It was just that after talking to her and getting pointed towards the park…

“And the doctor?” Orlando was definitely despairing. Kimi heard a thump and when she looked up Orlando had sat down heavily on one of the suite’s plush sofas. He did not look like he would be getting up any time soon.

“That was…” she hesitated.

She didn’t think that any of them would have gone with him. Even Bobo had been unsure. Nikki had gone through the competition, of course, but it had been… well, she was so used to doing those now. Challenging her to a competition was a sure way to distract her, to relax her, and now that Kimi was thinking about it the Doctor had definitely known more than he had said.

“A mistake.”

She sat down next to Orlando and waited.

At first, he didn’t speak, instead he pressed his arm over his eyes and groaned softly. “Joe was right.”

“Eh?” Well, that wasn’t what Kimi had expected at all. “Joe was right about what?”

Joe was never right. Well, alright, Kimi supposed that sometimes Joe could be… close. He was a good designer and even though he and Orlando were old as dirt (alright, not as old as dirt but certainly old) he could be right sometimes. Sometimes.

Never when it came to Nikki though and if he kept telling people about Kimi’s crush she was going to… going to… going to do something drastic!

“He said that your instincts would be muddled around Miss Nikki.” Orlando lifted his arm to glance at Kimi from under his sleeve. Kimi could already feel her face turning as red as when she had designed the Love of Rose makeup. “I see now that it’s true.”

That was it. She was going to design an outfit intended entirely to spite Joe. She would have to think of design styles he absolutely hated.

Her face got redder. “Well! It wasn’t like anything bad actually happened!”

“But what about next time?” Orlando raised his voice. Orlando never raised his voice. “What about the time after that?! Our world is starting to get dangerous, Kimi, and not just because of ninjas or thieves stealing designs or dresses! People are getting kidnapped.”

He placed a heavy hand on Kimi’s shoulders. “People are getting hurt.”

A soft sound interrupted them and they both turned. Nikki stood in the doorway to her room dressed in a pair of heart print pajamas that were so cute that Kimi’s heart skipped a beat. There was even a little hat. “I heard you two arguing is… is everything okay?”

Her eyes were so big, so worried, as she looked between Orlando and Kimi. 

Orlando took a deep breath and let it out.

“Officer Orlando was just telling me how worried he had been.” Kimi shrugged off his hands and went to hold Nikki’s. They were warm and there was a slight edge to her thumb nail, she must chew it when nervous. “I think next time we can watch the police chase Curt from the television.”

Nikki smiled down at their joined hands. “Bobo will be disappointed but…” 

She squeezed Kimi’s hands. “I won’t be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Look you can fight me on this but KIMI IS IN LOVE WITH NIKKI AND NIKKI DEFINITELY RETURNS THE AFFECTION AND ALSO THEY ARE COMPLETELY USELESS AROUND EACH OTHER?!


End file.
